Page 76 of Kiss & Collide
“I didn’t know you were planning a party in Vegas,” she said to Reece, once she’d gotten a handle on her temper. “You should have run it through the PR office.”
“I tried. You said no. So I did it myself.” He shrugged petulantly. “Besides, this party is better than anything Pinnacle would have thrown. I can do it my way.” He turned to leer at the two women he’d been dancing with, who smiled back at him with far too much enthusiasm.
As Violet pieced it together, her stomach sank. Fuck. No wonder his party buddies seemed unaccountably thrilled to hang out with him.
“Reece,” she hissed under her breath. “Did youhirethese girls?”
He grinned, unashamed. “It’s Vegas, baby. Everything’s for sale here.”
“Good lord, if word gets out that the Pinnacle team principal hired a couple of sex workers, we’ll never hear the bloody end of it. If yourfatherfinds out—”
“Relax, Vi.”
“I can’t relax! I’ve got to clean up your mess, and then I have to deal withthat!” She stabbed a finger at Ian, who’d just launched into “Bloodstream.” If they hadn’t changed up their set list too much, that meant they were going to take a break soon. And that meant she’d have to deal with Ian. But not until she’d dealt with this brand-new problem. “Give me your wallet.”
Reece blinked blearily. “Why?”
“Because I don’t carry cash! Just hand it over!”
Reece fished his wallet out. She snatched it away and rummaged through the contents. Thank god Reece’s ego was fragile enough that flashing wads of cash was still important to him. She cleaned it out and thrust it back at him, just as his phone started ringing.
She waited impatiently as he fished it out. “It’s Dad!”
Her stomach sank. Oh, god, not here, not now.
“Here, I’ll put him on speaker so you guys can hear,” Reece said.
Violet gestured wildly to stop him, but it was too late. Carter Hammond’s voice boomed through the phone, audible even over the band and the crowd.
“Reece.”
“Hi, Dad!”
“Hello, Mr. Hammond,” Violet said quickly. “You’re on speaker.” Just in case Carter Hammond was poised to say something scathing to his son.
“Ms. Harper. Are you at a party?”
Violet glared at Reece. “Reece is just entertaining a few of our sponsors,” she lied smoothly. Reece owed her so big for tonight.
“Did you watch the race today?” Reece asked. His desperate need for his father’s approval was almost sad. “We didn’t win, but we placed tenth and everybody here says that’s really good.”
“You know I didn’t watch it,” came Carter’s brusque reply. “I’m calling about thisGQinterview with one of our drivers.”
“You saw that?” Reece’s eyes shot apprehensively to Violet’s. That little fucker. The article was fantastic, but if his father didn’t approve of any part of it, she had no doubt Reece would fling her straight under the bus. Violet held her breath, ready to hear if she’d still have a job tomorrow.
“That was quite a coup. The team came off looking very good. And this driver … Chase Navarro … came off looking even better. It was well done.” Violet got the distinct impression Carter Hammond rarely gave out praise and that was as close to it as he was liable to get.
Reece visibly relaxed. “You like that, huh? Let me tell you, I had to hustle to make it happen, but it was worth it.”
Violet didn’t betray her reaction with so much as an eyelash twitch.She’dhustled to make that profile happen. It should have been an impossible get, but she did it through sheer determination. Worse than getting thrown under the bus, the fucker had just stolen her hard-earned glory.
Reece was still talking as he started wandering off through the crowd, puffing up more and more, preening before his father’s scant approval.
All she wanted to do was go slink away to some quiet bar and drink a very full glass of ice-cold vodka. Instead, she took a very deep breath.
She turned to the two women who were standing patiently to the side.
“Ladies, can I speak to you for a minute?”
